Essendon assistant coach Gary O'Donnell believes putting a cap on the number of interchanges per quarter in the pre-season competition could actually defeat the purpose of introducing the rule. The AFL announced yesterday a rule would be trialled in the NAB Cup competition in 2008, limiting the number of interchanges to 16 per quarter.
“The number of interchanges has risen substantially in recent years, jumping from 17 per team in 2000 to an average of 58 per team in 2007,"" AFL General Manager of Football Operations Adrian Anderson said in announcing the change.
""With players on the ground for less time and covering less distance, but travelling at significantly faster speeds, there is a concern about the potential increase in collision injuries and also the impact of player congestion caused by players being able to get to more contests,”.
While O'Donnell said the pre-season competition was the appropriate place to trial new rules he said limiting the number of interchanges this early in the year had the potential to increase the risk of injuries to players.
""The match length in pre-season is reduced but coaching staff really need to be able to spread the load during the pre-season competition as much as possible. Players' bodies are still getting attuned to football again and match fitness levels are not 100% so the bench can be like a revolving door at times. I think we need to be wary of putting players under more strain than they are ready for - fatigued players are at increased risk of injury,"" O'Donnell said.
""I understand this rule is about reducing collision injuries and congestion but there is a flip side to it. But the game is evolving all the time so I understand the need to look at these things.""
O'Donnell said Essendon averaged about 58 interchanges per game in 2007. However O'Donnell said there was a significant escalation of interchange use across the competition in the second half of the season.
""Perhaps as the season unfolds players become fatigued and need more down time or perhaps Clubs have just got smarter in terms of player management. Clearly it is trending upwards so it needs to be looked at, we just need to be careful about when and how we consider this change,"" he said
As part of the new changes, the number of interchange players will rise from six to eight players for the 2008 NAB Cup competition.
""This will allow us to see how a limit on interchange works in practice,""
He said the number of interchanges averaged 58 in the 2007 Toyota Premiership season and 67 in the 2007 NAB Cup.
One further change to the NAB Cup rules for the 2008 competition is that at centre bounces a no-go zone for players will be marked on the surface within which players are not to position themselves when the umpire:
a) is preparing to bounce;
b) is in the act of bouncing; or
c) is exiting via his usual exit path from the stoppage.
The no-go zone will be 2 metres wide and extending 6.5 metres out from the centre of the centre circle. A free kick will be awarded against a player who enters this zone behind the umpire during the above mentioned times.
The 2008 NAB Cup will again continue to feature a number of rules specific to this competition only, that have applied in recent seasons:
- 20 metre kick for a mark;
- kicking backwards for a mark only allowed in the forward half of the ground;
- three points for a deliberate rushed behind;
- nine points for a goal scored from outside 50m;
- ball to be thrown up around the ground, and bounced down only at the start of quarters and after goals;
- play on if the ball hits the goal or behind post and comes back into the field of play;
- boundary throw-ins to be taken from 10 metres inside the boundary line.
